Best Rideshare and Taxi Experiences Ranked

Uber

Launched from a Paris snowstorm frustration in 2009, Uber didn't just build an app — it rewired global transportation and bulldozed the taxi medallion system in the process. It's the default verb for 'get me a car' in dozens of languages, and that ubiquity, despite surge-pricing

Founded: 2009Cities Served: 10,000 citiesAvg. 5-mile Fare: $18Rider Experience: 8.5/10Safety Record: 7.5/10

added by IJRin 2 rankingsUber

Lyft

Born from Zimride's carpool roots, Lyft's pink mustache era made it the friendlier, driver-first alternative to Uber's cutthroat image. It never conquered the globe like its rival, but in the US and Canada it's earned a loyal following for cleaner cars and fewer PR disasters.

Founded: 2012Cities Served: 600 citiesAvg. 5-mile Fare: $17Rider Experience: 8.2/10Safety Record: 7.6/10

added by IJRLyft

Waymo

What began as Google's quirky self-driving car project is now hailing itself in Phoenix, San Francisco, LA, and Austin with an empty driver's seat and eerie precision. Riders consistently rate the calm, no-small-talk, no-tipping experience as unexpectedly delightful, and its safe

Founded: 2009Cities Served: 4 citiesAvg. 5-mile Fare: $20Rider Experience: 8.8/10Safety Record: 9.2/10

added by IJRWaymo

NYC Yellow Taxi

The medallion-topped Checker and Crown Victoria fleets are as iconic to New York as the skyline itself, immortalized in a thousand films long before an app existed. Hailing one curbside in the rain is a genuine skill, and the credit-card-swipe-in-the-back-seat ritual remains a ri

Founded: 1907Cities Served: 1 citiesAvg. 5-mile Fare: $15Rider Experience: 6.5/10Safety Record: 6.8/10

added by IJR

Curb

Curb tried to save the licensed taxi industry by giving it the app it never built for itself, letting riders hail medallion cabs in dozens of US cities with upfront pricing. It's the underdog's underdog — proof that the yellow cab didn't have to die, it just needed better softwar

Founded: 2011Cities Served: 65 citiesAvg. 5-mile Fare: $16Rider Experience: 6.8/10Safety Record: 7/10

added by IJR

Via

Via bet everything on shared rides and dynamic van routing before pooling was cool, turning Manhattan crosstown trips into a cheap, semi-communal experience. It later pivoted to powering transit agencies' on-demand shuttles, quietly becoming the infrastructure behind other people

Founded: 2012Cities Served: 35 citiesAvg. 5-mile Fare: $12Rider Experience: 7/10Safety Record: 7.2/10

added by IJR

Grab

Grab out-hustled Uber so badly across Southeast Asia that Uber sold its regional operations to Grab in 2018 for a stake in the company — a rare reverse-acquisition victory. Today it's a full super-app in Singapore, Indonesia, and beyond, bundling rides with food delivery and paym

Founded: 2012Cities Served: 500 citiesAvg. 5-mile Fare: $8Rider Experience: 7.8/10Safety Record: 7.3/10

added by IJR

DiDi

DiDi's 2016 acquisition of Uber China was one of the most decisive tech-market victories in history, cementing it as the ride-hailing giant of the world's largest market. Its 2021 New York IPO and subsequent Chinese regulatory crackdown made it a case study in how fast dominance

Founded: 2012Cities Served: 400 citiesAvg. 5-mile Fare: $7Rider Experience: 7.6/10Safety Record: 6.9/10

added by IJR

Bolt

Estonia's answer to Uber undercut Western rivals on price across Eastern Europe and Africa, expanding into scooters and food delivery along the way. It's the rideshare app most likely to surprise Western travelers with how cheap and functional it is in cities Uber barely touches.

Founded: 2013Cities Served: 600 citiesAvg. 5-mile Fare: $10Rider Experience: 7.5/10Safety Record: 7/10

added by IJR

Ola Cabs

Ola became India's homegrown Uber-slayer, undercutting fares in a price-sensitive market and later launching its own electric scooter arm. Its auto-rickshaw booking option is a distinctly local touch that no Silicon Valley app ever replicated well.

Founded: 2010Cities Served: 250 citiesAvg. 5-mile Fare: $6Rider Experience: 6.9/10Safety Record: 6.5/10

added by IJROla Cabs

Gett

Gett started as an Israeli taxi-hailing app before pivoting hard into corporate travel, becoming the quiet backbone of business-expense rides in London and beyond. It never chased consumer hype the way Uber did, betting instead on boring reliability for expense-account riders.

Founded: 2010Cities Served: 100 citiesAvg. 5-mile Fare: $16Rider Experience: 7/10Safety Record: 7.2/10

added by IJRGett

Careem

Careem built the Uber of the Middle East from Dubai outward, understanding local cash-payment habits and cultural nuances that foreign apps missed entirely. Uber eventually paid over $3 billion to acquire it in 2019 rather than keep losing the regional fight.

Founded: 2012Cities Served: 100 citiesAvg. 5-mile Fare: $9Rider Experience: 7.4/10Safety Record: 7.1/10

added by IJRCareem

London Black Cab

'The Knowledge' — a grueling exam requiring drivers to memorize 25,000 London streets — makes black cab drivers arguably the most qualified chauffeurs on earth, a tradition dating back centuries. Expensive and old-fashioned, yes, but no app has replicated the sheer navigational m

Founded: 1600sCities Served: 1 citiesAvg. 5-mile Fare: $25Rider Experience: 8/10Safety Record: 8.5/10

added by IJR

Uber Black

Uber's original premium tier launched before the mainstream UberX product, aiming squarely at business travelers who wanted a Lincoln Town Car, not a Camry. It set the template every luxury rideshare tier since has copied: professional drivers, black SUVs, and fares that make you

Founded: 2011Cities Served: 700 citiesAvg. 5-mile Fare: $35Rider Experience: 8.7/10Safety Record: 8/10

added by IJR

Lyft Lux

Lyft's answer to Uber Black arrived years later but matched it feature-for-feature, offering leather seats and top-rated drivers without abandoning Lyft's friendlier branding. It's the choice for riders who want luxury without feeling like they're funding Uber's next controversy.

Founded: 2016Cities Served: 200 citiesAvg. 5-mile Fare: $32Rider Experience: 8.3/10Safety Record: 7.8/10

added by IJR

Revel

Revel pivoted from a moped-sharing startup into an all-electric rideshare fleet in New York and San Francisco, betting riders would pay a premium to ride guilt-free in a blue Tesla. It's small-scale by design, but its EV-only promise makes it a genuine glimpse at rideshare's clea

Founded: 2018Cities Served: 2 citiesAvg. 5-mile Fare: $19Rider Experience: 7.3/10Safety Record: 7.4/10

added by IJR

Cruise

GM-backed Cruise raced Waymo to driverless dominance in San Francisco, only for a 2023 incident where a robotaxi dragged a pedestrian to bring its entire fleet to a screeching halt and its permits revoked. It's a cautionary tale ranked low here, a reminder that autonomous hype ca

Founded: 2013Cities Served: 3 citiesAvg. 5-mile Fare: $18Rider Experience: 7/10Safety Record: 5.5/10

added by IJR

Sidecar

Sidecar was arguably the true pioneer of peer-to-peer ridesharing, letting drivers set their own prices before Uber and Lyft copied the model and out-funded it into oblivion. It shut down in 2015, a footnote now, but a genuine 'first mover, last survivor' cautionary tale in Silic

Founded: 2011Cities Served: 10 citiesAvg. 5-mile Fare: —Rider Experience: 6/10Safety Record: 6/10

added by IJR